I was going to remain quiet. I'll only speak for myself here.
I do consider myself a purist. I have been a dance music fan since 1975 when I heard KC and the Sunshine Band. I did live (albeit as a young child) during a time when dance music was mainstream and a station such as Disco 92 (WKTU/New York) ruled me. Unfortunately I was too young to have done anything or know what an impact a "Disco Demolition Derby" in Chicago would have to my music. Though for me, in New York, I was lucky. While disco was "dying", more urban sounds took over from 1981 - 1985 which eventually created freestyle and house, although 'KTU while still around was no longer disco.
For the 19 or so years I have ran the NYDMC, dance music has had its ups and downs, but mostly downs. There were dance music outlets along the way but they have eventually gone (Groove Radio, Energy 92.7/101.1, Super 91.7, Pulse 87, just to name a few). Whether you can thank festivals like Electric Zoo or the downturn of hip-hop/r&b, dance music has picked itself up over these years. My only argument to this was that along side the crossover, some of our own branded artists should have been along side this growth. But for what it's worth, if a Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Pitbull, Flo Rida, can get the casual listeners to open up towards dance music and expand our growth then that would be a good thing.
But along the way there have been the controversies such as what happened in Las Vegas and Miami with our branded DJ's getting booted off the decks. The "mockery" of someone like a Paris Hilton thinking she could "spin". I was actually VERY HAPPY that the "DJ Factor" concept that Simon Cowell had was pulled off. While I am all for giving a DJ a chance, I would not want that person down the road to be "dissed" at because his/her claim to fame was winning "DJ Factor" aside from the talent such a person has.
Brett, and bring in Will Calder on this. You both may not like how I do things. You both probably still see me as some "misguided fan" instead of someone trying to do something (even with the politics in the way). You all probably think I'm crazy and for what I've been doing, I think that sometimes myself

. But for what it's worth, whatever I do or think about I do so because I love this music and would not want to harm it in any way. Granted, I'm 46 so for me, yeah I'm not into dubstep. But then
I ALSO realize that I'm not supposed to "
get it" because I am older. But I was there in Atlantic City and stuck around after the cocktail hour at The Pool at Harrah's. I saw how the young crowd was reacting to Kreayshawn's dubstep set. You were nearby me. I even saw Joel Salkowitz there. We all saw how the crowd reacted and it was huge!
Dance music will NEVER "suck". You will NEVER hear that out of my mouth. All we ever wanted was more radio outlets not only to take a chance on it, but to also take our thoughts into account beyond the pop status. My big fear is that by next year or 2014 the latest, this dance/CHR "trend" is going to die out. The cycle may favor that return of R&B and be sure Rihanna, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Flo Rida are going to run back to that if that's where the money is. That's why we want more of our artists in there now so that we could at least ride this "wave" a little longer.
It can't just be 6 stations that can "embrace" some elements of pure dance. It just can't be.
Stepping off the soapbox......